Get The History Books Ready...I Proclaim for 2012!

Wow! I'm glad that's over (Christmas). I find that the season of holidays just gets a little crazier as time goes on. My dear sweet Mary, from across the street, called me Christmas Day and asked," How is Mr. Scrooge today?" Please don't misunderstand, in theory, Christmas is a wonderful holiday. I just don't get caught up in the last-minute rush, or the compulsion to buy bigger and better gifts every year. It's just not for me. Thanksgiving is a much better holiday. To tell you the truth, July 4 has to be my favorite. Anyhow, I'm glad this is going to be a semi – regular week.


I really have had my share of problems this week. Remember the new ISP that I got? It just quit working and when I called tech support, I was informed it would be January 2, 2012, before they could send a technician. I've had the same problem with Dish Network. Evidently, the LNB has quit working in my satellite dish. Same deal, we can't send it technician out until January 2. Needless to say, I feel rather unconnected. Of course, my cell phone is still ringing. This morning, I got a scam call and a wrong number. I have started loading all my music CDs to the computer. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now, I'm in the market for an MP3 player. I have thoroughly convinced myself to buy a Microsoft Zune. Naturally, Microsoft quit supporting Zune 90 days ago. It looks like I will be buying my first Apple product. I think my researches landed me on the iPod Classic. Any suggestions?


I'm sure those of you born in the baby boomer era will remember the British Invasion. That was the fabulous era of modern music that brought us such bands as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, Peter and Gordon, and the list goes on ad infinitum. (or so it seems). Do you remember the British band, Sir Douglas Quintet? Here's a little reminder......

Beatle's haircuts and everything

British

                                                           

                                                        

                                                       


Doug Sahm, founding member of The Sir Douglas Quintet, was not from England, at all. In fact, he was from San Antonio, Texas. Here is his life story. So, the San Antonio native, Doug Sahm, kind of pulled the Woolly Bully over everybody's eyes, and implied that they were from England. I think he was a musical genius. Please enjoy these Pure Texas inspired songs.....

                                                                                         

Paying Tribute to Sir Doug!!    

Doug Sahm went from child prodigy to faux British-waver to become the leader of the fabulous Tex-Mex hit band, The Texas Tornadoes. Here are some of their hits......

                                                

Thank you so much Mr. Sahm!

It really is funny how time slips away, isn't it? I, for one, will be glad when 2011 silently slips into the history books. Here comes 2012, and it's way past time for me to make my move. The housing market is showing some improvement. I proclaim: This is the year I have dreamed about all my life. I will sell my house, I will move into the full-time RV lifestyle, I will move into my retirement with dignity and grace, I will get to meet up with all my RV blog friends. There, I said it and it has to be true because you read it on the Internet.

Thank you for coming by and taking the time to peek into my slightly tilted little world. See you again, I hope!

Michael Ultra

All Fixed and Fixed-up Good!

                                                    


We all know that all is well that ends well, right? This past week I had two very challenging and almost overwhelming incidents. First down was my desktop computer out in my office. It doesn't get all that much use, but I like having it there. It decided to completely freeze, so I decidedly stuck in the reboot discs and thought it was going okay until the last screen. Several hours later I got on Craig's list, looking for a used computer tower. I found a pretty good DELL, and called the phone number. I was assured that it would work for me, but he also asked that I bring my old one over. Rafael's shop is in one of the bedrooms of his house. He's got a nice shop, lots of shelves with electronic equipment, and a few items waiting to be delivered to their owners. He looked at my old dinosaur of a computer and said it was a pretty good machine, 250gig HD and so forth. I told him that even though the hard drive was gigantic, I had just about filled it up. He said he could completely erase my hard drive, including petitions, and reinstall my operating system." How much" I asked? " I usually charge $125, but I'll do it for 50 bucks." he said. I reached in my pocket and happen to have a $50 bill. " I'll have it ready by tomorrow afternoon." he promised. Well, sure enough, he called and said it was ready and that he had included a few programs for free.(He went way beyond the call of duty) I mean, really, look at this……

                                                     






My other weekly problem had me perplexed. Several months ago, I noticed a wet spot on my carpet. I naturally blamed my dogs. I would blotted out and dry it, and it would come back. It finally went away, with me thinking, what good dogs. At the first of the week, I was walking into the kitchen, in my sock feet, when I stepped on the dreaded wet spot. It was in such a place as I knew the male dogs didn't do it. Little Cammy must've thought I was crazy, but I was accusing her. Over the next 48 hours, I would change out house and squeeze out water, and I finally decided that she didn't have the capacity for moisture I was sopping  up off floor. I decided it was a leak in slab. It finally turned out to be a leak in the water supply line to the refrigerator. So, instead of the thousands of dollars. I had envisioned spending on that major drain leak, I spent about 18 bucks on compression fittings. It's funny to me how water can migrate 4 feet and decide to come up to the surface, but it sure can. No damage done, and really it was a lesson learned.

 

Needless to say, I apologized, profusely, to my dogs. I think they have forgiven me. Here are some photos of my pack… 




While we're on the subject of dogs, I want to publicly state that I really do like most dogs more than most people. Here are a couple of dog videos I've been watching this week. Both of them can bring tears to your eyes, please enjoy!

The weather has been nice, but were taking a change to the worst. You know, the usual, blowing wind, scattered showers, turning to snow in the PM. What the heck do I expect? I live in the Texas Panhandle.




Thank you Mr. Anonymous for helping me learn to check my facts before I publish them in my blog. I'll stick to things I know about.

Cold Play Fix You 

Johnny Cash and Billy Gibbons

I appreciate all of you coming by, and hope your week is filled with warm love.


Michael Ultra

I Want To Rock Your Gypsy Soul......Every RV'er Has One!

                                                              This is our weather for 3 days!



We have had some messed up winter weather. The snow is barely gone and we've had fog and freezing drizzle for the past three days. It's been so foggy that I started humming the line "when that fog horn blows, I will be coming home." Of course, that's a line out of a Van Morrison song. This one here.....

Here are the words if you want to sing along..

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was one as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when the fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will fold into the mystic

When that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of oldAnd together we will fold into the mystic   





While I was looking on YouTube for Van, I noticed several other artists have done Into the Mystic. That's the way it is with a great song, and most of Mr. Morrison's are. Here are some examples.....

Colin James

Joe Cocker

Bonefish Johnny

Reggae style

Allman Brothers

Zac Brown Band

country style

I have to say that Van Morrison has always been one of my very favorite artist. I'm thankful to be in the same generation as he. Most of you can relate to this next one and even if your young, I'm sure you've heard it. This was Van the Man's first band. Them. (they must have spent a lot of time thinking of that name)  

G..L..O..R..I-I-I-I-I..A                                      

                                                                               Gloria!! 

                                                        Here Comes The Night


I'm sure everyone Rv'er can relate to this one. We all hear the call of the highway, don't we? 

                                             Ancient Highway    


I hope I haven't OD'ed anyone on Van Morrison. There are so many more that I love and struggled not to include here.


I hope and pray everyone remembers to let their soul and spirit fly into the mystic. Much love and peace to you all. Don't forget to love on another.




Michael Ultra

Potty-Mouthed Toilet Humor.....For Real!! (something for everyone)

Back in the 1970s, I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That is a wonderful, international town. Of course, it has changed a great deal since I lived there. Towards the end of my stay there, I met a young lass from England. I have to tell you, she was absolutely delightful. I really got a kick out of her accent. One morning, not long after we had met, she went to use my bathroom and my shower. She stuck her towel-wrapped head into the hallway and asked," Do you have any Lou Rawls?" I have always had an extensive music collection, so I told her that I did and put on an album by the man that many called "The Genius."(please click) I don't remember which one I played for her, but soon my little adobe house was full of the sounds of this wonderful and soulful crooner.

                                                    
                                                     

                                                       
                                                                                                                                                  
"No Michael" she exclaimed," I asked for some Lou Rawls! I'm serious!" I didn't know what to do, so I put on this next one. I mean, what could be better than Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke? Please enjoy and I will finish the story.......

                                                   


She got a little peeved with me and I had no idea that the problem was our interpretation of the English language. She spoke the Queen's English and I spoke a combination of  Texican and Spanglish. What she really wanted is this..LOO ROLLS. (please click to see what the heck I am talking about.)

                                                            
I have laughed at that story many times and still do until this very day.

30 English Accents

The weather is starting to clear up here in West Texas. We had a couple days of dreaded snow, but the weather girl said we would get into the 40's today. I am going to have to go to town to post this. I will try to find some ISP today. 


I hope you enjoyed my post today. Here are a couple more for those of you who can't get enough toilet humor.........

                                                       

The Texas Troubadour!! 

That's about it for today. I hope you got a chuckle out of this!!


Michael Ultra
(This post is dedicated to Nellie the MidLife Cruiser. She has gone but will never be forgotten!)